1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to dining bibs or garments for use by children or older persons during meals and more particularly to a combined bib and table cover.
2. Background and Description of the Prior Art
A variety of bib garments have been developed or proposed for use by infants or young children seated in a high chair to protect their clothing and/or furniture from food and liquid spills, drooling, and the like. Bibs are often equipped with an apron or other extension to spread over a tray or table or under dishware to enhance their utility. In some examples, the extended bib has fence-like sides attached to better retain food items discarded or not yet eaten from leaking or falling off or being pushed away from the bib or its extension.
Such foregoing features are disclosed in the prior art, including the following representative examples. U.S. Pat. No. 2,672,614 issued to Zimmerman et al. describes a “Bib” having a curved form to fit around the body of the wearer. A tray panel is provided around the lower portion of the bib. The tray panel has a bottom surface and a reinforced “upstanding flange” extending from the perimeter of the bottom surface, which is connected to a lower side of the bib nearest its rearward edges, forming a container to catch and retain food particles or liquid foods.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,738,511 issued to Brady describes a one-piece bib that has a tray portion extending from the lower part of the bib that includes a pocket on the underside that may be slipped over the tray and pulled rearward until the tray is completely enclosed by the pocket. The bib is also configured to form a second pocket at the lower portion of the bib between the near edge of the tray and the bib to catch food particles and liquids. A bowl retainer comprising a circular piece of flexible material having an outer peripheral edge, which includes a drawstring, is provided to secure a bowl of food to the top side of the tray portion of the bib.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,455 issued Klaine for an “Infant's Bib and Auxiliary Tray” having inflatable, tubular sidewalls which serve to form a confining basin extending over the upper surface of the tray of the high chair. A tray frame is required for supporting the auxiliary tray in position. The confining basin may be collapsed for storage. The tray cover itself is preferably formed of a sheet of flexible plastic material. A valve is provided for inflating and deflating the inflatable sidewalls.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,943 issued to Carlisle et al. describes a “Combined Bib and Apron.” The apron portion is configured to fit over the tray of a high chair and secured by elastic strips around the edge of the apron. The one piece bib and apron includes sufficient material to provide a trough between the child's waist and the near edge of the tray of the high chair. The combined bib and apron is made of a single sheet of waterproof material.
The foregoing bib-and-apron combinations have one or more of the following inconvenient features. Those that have a sidewall either require inflation of the sidewall and a supporting frame for the sidewall, a stiffener internal to a laminated sidewall, or lack any kind of support for the sidewall. Thus, the sidewall feature requires a set up operation to use, is insufficiently flexible or has relatively hard edges, or the sidewall is rendered ineffective as a containing mechanism because of its lack of support. In addition, those bib-and-apron combinations that are reusable require bailing out of the trough or basin, or removal from the high chair, to dispose of spilled food items. What is needed is a bib and tray cover combination that solves these problems and increases the utility and ease of use without diminishing the comfort to the child that is using it.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,716,749 issued to the inventor of the present application, addressed the foregoing deficiencies by providing a dining garment for a child's high chair or toddler's table or other similar furniture article, comprising a tray cover, a bib extension of the tray cover extending over the tray, and a bolster disposed around and extending upward from the perimeter of the tray cover, the combination forming a basin. The bolster has sufficient rigidity to maintain the basin form and sufficient flexibility to facilitate installation, removal, and cleaning, without requiring inflation of the bolster and without requiring a separate supporting frame. The dining garment included a trough between the tray cover and the bib extension for accumulating spilled food materials. A drain may be provided in the trough for draining the spilled food debris. U.S. Pat. No. 7,716,749 is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference for all that it discloses.
However, the structure of the dining garment disclosed in the '749 patent is not well-adapted to use with an older child seated at a conventional dining table, nor is it easy to contain the food debris in the garment's basin and trough until it can be drained for cleaning. Accordingly, improvements to the structure of the dining garment to extend its utility for toddlers, older children, children or persons with special needs, etc. may be made as described herein below and claimed in the appended claims.